Jacksonville Jewish News - September 2017

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NEW RABBI IN JACKSONVILLE The Jacksonville Jewish Center welcomes city’s first female rabbi to the pulpit just in time for High Holy Days Page 11

September 2017

• Elul 5777 / Tishrei 5778 •

Local teen helps US women’s golf team win gold at the 2017 Maccabiah Games By Jewish Federation of Jacksonville

This July, Ponte Vedra product Hannah Berman along with her teammates on the United States women’s golf team struck gold at the 20th World Maccabiah Games in Tel Aviv. The US team defeated the Israeli squad on its home course, while Berman shot a team-low over 54 holes (79-73-76/228), “Like all of us, my only dream going into these games was to win a team gold medal,” Berman said. “We had a strong team, as did the Israelis, and it was a test for us on their home course.” Berman, a member of Team Florida in the 2016 Southeastern Women’s Matches, took the silver individual medal. “I think they (the Israelis) knew every blade of grass, so it was a big win for us,” she explained. “To come home as the low American and with a silver medal is beyond my Berman celebrates during imagination. I’m not sure the opening ceremonies of I can put into the Maccabiah Games words what this means to me.” While the Games ran from July 5-17, the Golf Championship was held July 11-13 on the 6,100 yard Pete Dye-designed course in Caesarea, about 45 minutes (56 kilometers) north of Tel Aviv. “I don’t know that I even understood the scope of these Games, on and off the course, until I got there,” Berman recalled of her experience. “I am humbled and honored to be part of the history of the Maccabbiah as the entire experience changed my life in so many ways.” For Berman, this was her first trip to her

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See GOLF TEEN GOLD, p. 6

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PUTTING ANOTHER NOTE ISRAELI TEENS IN JAX IN THE (WESTERN) WALL Group from the

Former Day School students do a mitzvah on Israel trip Page 14

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Hadera-Eiron region feels at home on Florida’s First Coast Page 16

JaxJewishTV • Volume 30, Number 3 • 36 pages

Jacksonville Jewish Community to welcome its newest Shlicha in Shelly Shalev BY MATT FRANZBLAU Communications Director mattf@jewishjacksonville.org

Last month, the Jacksonville Jewish community said goodbye to its first Shlicha in more than a quarter century, as Dana Marmari went back to Israel following a year of stellar service in Northeast Florida. This month, Northeast Florida welcomes the arrival of a new Shlicha, Ashdod native Shelly Shalev, who comes to the Sunshine State from Tel Aviv where she was previously working as a dental assistant at a private clinic. The 27-year old graduated from Open University in Tel Aviv where she studied political science and international relations and now she is ready to transition from working on smiles in the Middle East to making people smile in the Southeast with her love of all things Israel and Judaism. Below are some answers to questions the JJN posed to her prior to her arrival in addition to some fun facts about Jacksonville’s newest import. Look forward to getting to

know Shelly better through her monthly Shlicha Corner columns in the Jacksonville Jewish News and of course from events in and around the community. Jacksonville Jewish News: What are you looking forward to most in coming to Jacksonville and working within the Jewish community here? Shelly Shalev: “The thing that I’m most excited about is meeting each and everyone from the community and to bring Israel and Judaism as I know it to them. In addition to experiencing Jewish life in Jacksonville, together we will learn more about our shared heritage and by doing so we will keep Judaism and Israel in our hearts. I believe there are so many great things we can accomplish together as a Jewish community.” JJN: Where are you from in Israel and what do you do currently? SS: “I’m from Ashdod city, which is about a 25 minute drive south of Tel Aviv and up until now I was working as a dental assistant at a private clinic in Tel Aviv.” JJN: Have you ever been to the U.S. before and if so what were the circumstances of your experiences?

Jacksonville’s newest shlicha Shelly Shalev

SS: “Yes I visited my cousin who lives in Los Angeles when I was living in Mexico, and I also visited Las Vegas. I remember seeing Leonardo DiCaprio one day at the Beverly Hills Mall and it made my American experience so real, seeing such a huge superstar and not through the screen. I have very good memories from that trip to the U.S. with my cousin.”

See NEW SHLICHA, p. 4

Position in JFNA cabinet highlights a meaningful summer for rGEN’s Haley Trager By Jewish Federation of Jacksonville

Haley Trager, campaign chair for the Jewish Federation of Jacksonville’s rGEN (young adult) Division is back in the Sunshine State following a busy summer filled with flights and memories. With Federation trips to Israel and Arizona, Trager was named the recipient of the Ilene Sari Selevan Young Leadership Award, in addition to being appointed to the Jewish Federations of North America’s Young Leadership Cabinet. “The National Young Leadership Cabinet is a very special group of young professionals throughout North America who are choosing to participate in their local Federations at a high level,” said Jewish Federation of Jacksonville Executive Director Alan Margolies. “They do this with both expressions of Tzedakah and leadership and all of us are very proud of Haley for being chosen to go on the cabinet.”

Trager will receive her Young Leadership award at the Federation’s annual campaign kick-off, scheduled for Nov. 9th, but embarked on her six-year term starting in August, with a trip to Scottsdale, Ariz., where other cabinet members joined her for JFNA’s National Young Leader’s Cabinet Retreat. “It’s such an honor, especially for someone who chose Judaism and was so welcomed into our local Jewish community,” Trager explained. “I feel one way I can give back is by representing Jacksonville on the Young Leader’s Cabinet, which will give our community more exposure on a national and international level.” Trager (left) with an elderly Holocaust survivor National Young Leadership Cabinet is worldwide. comprised of Jewish philanthropists under Trager joins a very special group of her the age of 45 who serve as leaders within peers, who during their time serving on Federation communities on the local and Cabinet travel all over the world on Study national level, as well as being liaisons between Federation and Jews in populaSee TRAGER SUMMER, p. 16 tions being served by campaign dollars

Florida’s First Coast now home to 20 new Jewish leaders, thanks to recent women’s trip to Israel This year’s participants also visited Hadera-Eiron, which as part of the Jewish Federation of Jacksonville Israel Partnership (also known as Partnership2Gether) with communities in North America, the women created meaningful connections with Jacksonville’s sister community in Israel. Returning back home, these women have continued their Momentum journey here in Jacksonville, unpacking their learning and transforming it into action in their daily lives.

BY MARCY RUDOWITZ Trip participant

Thanks to the Jewish Women’s Renaissance Project (JWRP) and local partner agencies, the Jewish Federation of Jacksonville and Etz Chaim Synagogue, 20 local Jewish women participated in an eight-day subsidized Momentum journey through Israel. Since 2009, the Jewish Women’s Renaissance Project has inspired new Jewish leadership and touched thousands of Jewish individuals, based on the premise, if you inspire a woman, you can inspire a family, a community and ultimately, change the world. The bond for participants is motherhood and raising Jewish children. More than 11,000 Jewish mothers from 26 countries around the world have already taken part in the Momentum trip to Israel. For the

The ladies made stops at traditional sites like the Kotel in Jerusalem as well as others

local women, something happened between the cable car up to Masada, swimming in the Dead Sea, riding camels, dancing in Tiberias and rejoicing at the Western Wall that reconnected them to their own Jewish identities and collectively, their community, without borders.

See JWRP TRIP, p. 7

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